Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation (WIFIA)

 

To accelerate investment in our nation's water and wastewater infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost supplemental credit assistance under customized terms to creditworthy water and wastewater projects of national and regional significance. Funding Priority - Fiscal Year FY 2019: Selected projects shall demonstrate the broad range of project types that the WIFIA program can finance including wastewater, drinking water, stormwater, and water recycling projects. Funding Priority - Fiscal Year FY 2020: Selected projects shall demonstrate the broad range of project types that the WIFIA program can finance including wastewater, drinking water, stormwater, and water recycling projects.

Active 66.958 Environmental Protection Agency E - Direct Loans Fiscal Year 2018 Published Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) soliciting letters of interest from prospective borrowers four weeks following appropriations. Received 43 Letters of Interest from prospective borrowers. After evaluating the Letters of Interest, WIFIA invited 12 selected prospective borrowers and projects to apply for loans. Issued five loans totaling over $1 billion.
Fiscal Year 2019 Published Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) soliciting letters of interest from prospective borrowers six weeks following appropriations. Issued four loans totaling over $1.1 billion.
Fiscal Year 2020 The WIFIA program will publish a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) soliciting letters of interest from prospective borrowers following an appropriation. The WIFIA program will continue to work to issue loans to eligible borrowers. America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, Title IV, Section 4201, Public Law 115-270
Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014, Title V, Section 5021-5035, Public Law 113-121, 33 U.S.C. sec. 3901-3914, as amended
Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of 2015, Title I, Section 1445, Public Law 114-94
Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016, Title IV, Section 5008, Public Law 114-322 The entity applying for WIFIA credit assistance must be one of the following: a corporation, a partnership, a joint venture, a trust, a federal, state or local government entity, agency, or instrumentality, a tribal government or consortium of tribal governments, a State Revolving Fund (SRF) program as defined by the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Not applicable. Project selection includes a process to identify projects to invite to apply which are: eligible, creditworthy, technically feasible, meet the public policy goals outlined in the WIFIA statute and regulation. Preapplication coordination is required. An environmental impact assessment is required for this listing. 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards applies to this program. The WIFIA application process is two phases: Phase 1: Project Selection: EPA announces the amount of funding it will have available and solicits letters of interest from prospective borrowers. In their letters of interest, prospective borrowers demonstrate their project's eligibility, creditworthiness, engineering feasibility, readiness to proceed, and alignment with EPA's policy priorities. Based on this information, EPA selects projects which it intends to fund and invites the prospective borrowers to continue to the application process. Phase 2: Project Review, Negotiation, and Closing: Each invitee must apply for its WIFIA loan. The WIFIA program conducts a detailed financial and engineering review of the project. Based on that review, the WIFIA program proposes terms and conditions for the project and negotiates them with the applicant until they develop a mutually agreeable term sheet and loan agreement. Prior to closing, the WIFIA program must receive approval from the Administrator or his designee and the Office of Management and Budget. At closing, the prospective borrower executes the credit agreement, which is the binding legal document that allows the borrower to receive WIFIA funds. Once projects are selected, prospective borrowers are invited to submit an application. At this point, the funds for the loan are set-aside to ensure the WIFIA program will have sufficient funds for the loan. The borrower does not receive disbursements until after loan closing. At that point the funds are obligated. EPA may announce multiple selection rounds in a single notice of funding availability (NOFA). For each selection round, the NOFA will identify a deadline by which letters of interest must be submitted to be considered for funding in that selection round. Prospective borrowers have 2-3 months to submit a Letter of Interest (LOI). Exact deadlines will be in the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). Projects will be selected approximately 2-3 months after the LOI submission deadline. Once prospective borrowers are notified that they have been selected, they have up to a year to submit an application. From 1 to 15 days. After a prospective borrower receives a written notification that their project is not eligible under the WIFIA statute, the prospective borrower may respond with a written dispute to the program. The written dispute must be received within fifteen days of WIFIA's notification. The written dispute must include a detailed statement of the legal and/or factual basis for the dispute, the remedy that the prospective borrower is seeking, information on how to communicate with the prospective borrower, and any documentation relevant to the dispute. Borrowers are able to submit another LOI for additional funding. Selection criteria will be outlined in the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). This is specifically for water infrastructure. Performance Reports: Performance reports are required. Frequency determined during negotiation of terms and conditions of loan agreement. Grants and cooperative agreements are subject to inspections and audits by the Comptroller General of the United States, the EPA Office of Inspector General, other EPA staff, or any authorized representative of the Federal government. Reviews by the EPA Project Officer and the Grants Specialist may occur each year. The borrower should retain all files and records relating to the loan. Generally, these files should be retained until 5 years after the later of the date on which (i) all obligations under the WIFIA loan agreement have been met and any required audits performed and (ii) any litigation relating to the project, WIFIA loan or WIFIA loan agreement have been resolved. Statutory formula is not applicable to this assistance listing.

Matching is mandatory. WIFIA can only finance up to 49% of total eligible project costs. It is the prospective borrowers responsibility to show that they have other viable sources of funding for the remaining 51% of the eligible project costs. Federal funding cannot exceed 80% of total project costs.

MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. WIFIA loans may have a length of up to 35 years after substantial completion, allowing payment amounts to be smaller throughout the life of the loan. Prospective borrower has up to 1 year to submit their application from the time they are selected. The WIFIA program will disburse proceeds of the WIFIA credit instrument to reimburse eligible project costs incurred based on submitted invoices and receipts. Disbursements may be scheduled as often as once per month. None/Not specified. Arielle Gerstein
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. (Mail Code: 4301T)
Washington, DC 20460 USA
gerstein.arielle@epa.gov
Phone: 202-566-1868 https://www.epa.gov/wifia 68-0254-0-1-301 (Direct Loans) FY 18$55,000,000.00; FY 19 est $60,000,000.00; FY 20 est $20,000,000.00; - WIFIA loans may have a length of up to 35 years after substantial completion, allowing payment amounts to be smaller throughout the life of the loan. Prospective borrower has up to 1 year to submit their application from the time they are selected. See WIFIA website at https://www.epa.gov/wifia/learn-about-wifia-program#laws. Fiscal Year 2019 he WIFIA program published a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) soliciting letters of interest from prospective borrowers. WIFIA issued four loans totaling over $1.1 billion. WIFIA will continue to make progress to fund development and implementation activities for eligible projects.
Fiscal Year 2020 The WIFIA program will publish a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) soliciting letters of interest from prospective borrowers four weeks following an appropriation. WIFIA will continue to make progress to fund development and implementation activities for eligible projects.